Step by step: this is how CJNG hit men executed the mayor of Aguililla

It all happened within ten minutes. First there were two detonations, and after a pause, a third was heard. It was 16:00 and at that time several people were walking along Benjamín Ruiz Avenue, in front of the football field in the area, at the height of the warehouse of the Aguililla Municipal Palace, in Tierra Caliente.

More than one witness recognized the two subjects riding the Honda motorcycle black with red: one was short, sturdy and wearing blue jeans and shirt; the other was tall, dark and wearing a “military-type” haircut.

The motorcycle was paired with a white van that was driving in front of the football field. The man sitting behind the pilot pointed a squad and shot the driver in the face. The van advanced a few meters. The crew of the motorcycle followed her. The same guy fired a second shot. Then, the unit stopped completely.

The man carrying the gun in his right hand got down, took two or three steps, approached the window and fired once more. At that time he was recognized by a passerby. The hit man who executed the mayor of Aguililla, César Arturo Valencia Caballero, was identified as Ricardo “N”, alias El Alacrán , a gunman from Cema and El Pedrín, who in turn have been identified as heads of squares of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in Aguililla.

After the third shot, El Alacrán put the squad behind his waist and got on the bike. At that moment the driver surrounded the white van. “At that moment I realized that the other was El Zapata, who is also from Aguililla, and he always accompanies the Alacrán or is taking care of Cema or Pedrín when they are in town,” the witness said.

A lot of people in Aguililla were familiar with that bike. It was the same one where El Alacrán walked, before the Army took Aguililla, and the people of the CJNG fled to Dos Aguas to hide in the hills. Testimonies collected by authorities indicate that Pedro López Barajas, alias El Pedrín or La Coya, financed Cesar Valencia's campaign, and that about three months ago he held a meeting with him for at least 20 minutes in the same offices of the City Council.

César Arturo Valencia won last June 6 in an election that was described as “ghostly” due to the poor citizen participation he had. One by another, the candidates for the municipal presidency were “lowered” by the leaders of the CJNG, who accepted Valencia Caballero's nomination and even retreated two days before the election.

The hypothesis of a possible retaliation by the CJNG for the intrusion of the Army is based on a meeting that took place a day before helicopters, dozens of vehicles and more than a thousand soldiers broke into Aguililla to restore the rule of law. According to a report held by the federal authorities, that day Valencia Caballero tried to convince the military commanders not to enter the town.

Not getting it was apparently his death sentence. Only a month later he was killed at close range, and the next day, the body of his adviser, René Cervantes, appeared in Las Parcelas de Castillo. Apparently, they were both killed at the same time.

El Pedrín, El Cema, El Alacrán and El Zapata showed themselves modestly in the streets of the town, before the Army broke in. The address of the Alacrán was known to everyone. That's where the Honda motorcycle used in the murder was located. However, despite the information gathered by the authorities, a judge in Apatzingán refuses to give away the arrest warrant.

Ricardo Mejía Berdeja, Undersecretary of Security and Citizen Protection, revealed that the “alleged perpetrators” are already being targeted and are presumed to belong to “a criminal group” that was displaced from the municipality in the presence of the Army.